A wide range of agricultural chemicals has been developed to increase agricultural production. Some of these chemicals, generally designated pesticides, are designed to eliminate competing plant growth or parasitic organisms. Consequently, the term pesticide includes a variety of products such as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Another group of products, which is non-pesticidal in nature, is designed to maximize crop yields by acting directly on the crop itself. These non-pesticidal materials include, for example, plant growth regulators, insect growth regulators, micronutrients, and fertilizers.
Agricultural chemical products have been formulated as emulsifiable concentrates, wettable powders, dusts, water dispersible granules, baits, water soluble concentrates, water or oil based suspensions, and impregnated or extruded granules. These chemical products have been delivered to the target site using either ground or aerial equipment, specially adapted to handle the various product forms. For example, spraying equipment is used to deliver both water based dilute and concentrate sprays of active ingredients. Dry application of active ingredients in the form of dusts, baits, and granular products is also employed. And, chemigation, drip-line, and wick application techniques are commonly employed in the industry as well.
However, conventional methods of agricultural chemical dispersal are primarily designed for wide-spread application of these chemicals, over large areas such as crop fields and the like. It is often desirable to disperse agricultural chemicals and pesticides over a more limited area, even within enclosed areas, where conventional application methods are impractical. While such more limited dispersal can be effected by systems such as spray cans or hand-held pump sprayers, the effective distance of treatment of such devices is limited to only several feet from the outlet of the spray device, and the overall spray pattern can be quite limited, such that only spot treatment is effected.
It would be advantageous to be able to target delivery and dispersal of pesticides, such as agricultural chemicals, for treatment at distances, but to avoid the wide-spread treatment effected by, for example aircraft dispersal over entire crop fields. Several attempts have been disclosed at providing such systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,913 to Hayes et al. discloses use of a projectile, such as a paintball, to administer pesticides such as one or more from the group consisting of 4-allylanisole, anisole, allylbenzene, 4-isopropylanisole, p-anisaldehyde, ethylbenzene, cumene, 4-methoxyacetophenone, 4-methylstyrene, 2-propylphenol, phenetole, and toluene, for scolytid infestation. Conifers, which are a target for scolytids, are protected by the application of the pesticides by use of a projectile containing the compound which explodes upon contact with the conifer thereby emitting the compound.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2007/0193914 to Scarabino discloses a means to contain and deliver either liquids or solids to a predefined or targeted location. This invention allows the user to target locations that are either above the ground or are below the surface of the ground and deliver either a liquid or a solid to that location. The means disclosed is essentially a paintball filled with various pesticides and the like, which is delivered by means of a standard paintball gun.
However, neither of these disclosures addresses dispersal of agricultural chemicals/pesticides at distances between the exit of the firing device (i.e. the paintball gun) and the impact location of the chemical-filled paintball. As such, their effectiveness in chemical dispersal is limited to only a relatively small dispersal pattern at the impact site.
It would be advantageous to be able to disperse agricultural chemicals, such as pesticides or fertilizers, for treatment at distances between those susceptible to spray can or hand-held pump sprayer application, and the wide-spread treatment obtainable by, for example aircraft dispersal over entire crop fields.